1997–98 NHL season
The 1997–98 NHL season was the 81st regular season of the NHL which lasted from October 1, 1997 to June 16, 1998. The Stanley Cup champions were the Detroit Red Wings, who swept the Washington Capitals in four games. League Business On June 25, 1997, the NHL approved of four expansion franchises for Nashville, Atlanta, Columbus, and Saint Paul expanding the league to 30 teams by 2000. These franchises would later become became the Nashville Predators in 1998, the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999 and the Columbus Blue Jackets & the Minnesota Wild in 2000. This was the first season for the Carolina Hurricanes (who were previously known as the Hartford Whalers). The Hurricanes played their home games at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, a temporary home while awaiting the construction of their permanent home arena in Raleigh. The team would remain in the Northeast Division until realignment the following season. It would be another 14 years before another NHL team would relocate. This was the first season for Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff (who until the 2012–13 season) was the longest-tenured NHL coach. The controversial "FoxTrax" puck system was last used this season as well. In August of 1998, the NHL signed a five-year, $600 million rights agreement with ABC Sports/ESPN. FOX elected not to use the system in the subsequent "lame duck" season. This was the last season the Toronto Maple Leafs were in the Western Conference. It was the last season of the four-division quasi-geographic alignment inherited from the traditional Adams/Patrick/Norris/Smythe set. The league would change the following season to a six-division, more purely geographic alignment. For the first time since the 1968–69 season, the Chicago Blackhawks missed the playoffs. Regular Season The all-time record for most shutouts in a season (set at 127 just a year earlier) was broken again as 160 shutouts were recorded, 13 of which were earned by Dominik Hasek, who set a league record with 11 teams shut-out. Hasek zeroed the New York Rangers three times, and Los Angeles, Anaheim, Tampa Bay, Boston, Calgary, Washington, Montreal, Ottawa, Pittsburgh and Edmonton once each. Only two teams, the St. Louis Blues and the Detroit Red Wings, averaged more than three goals scored per game. In addition, only one player, Jaromir Jagr reached the 100-point plateau during the regular season. Highlights Jari Kurri reached 600 goals in his career, finishing with 601. The Vancouver Canucks and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim opened the season with a two-game series in Tokyo, Japan, making it the first time the NHL played regular games outside of North America. Accolades All-Star teams Player Statistics Scoring leaders | |} Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points Leading goaltenders Regular season Coaches Eastern Conference *Boston Bruins: Pat Burns *Buffalo Sabres: Lindy Ruff *Carolina Hurricanes: Paul Maurice *Florida Panthers: Bryan Murray *Montreal Canadiens: Alain Vigneault *New Jersey Devils: Jacques Lemaire *New York Islanders: Rick Bowness *New York Rangers: Colin Campbell *Ottawa Senators: Jacques Martin *Philadelphia Flyers: Wayne Cashman and Roger Neilson *Pittsburgh Penguins: Kevin Constantine *Tampa Bay Lightning: Terry Crisp *Washington Capitals: Ron Wilson Western Conference *Mighty Ducks of Anaheim: Pierre Page *Calgary Flames: Brian Sutter *Chicago Blackhawks: Craig Hartsburg *Colorado Avalanche: Marc Crawford *Dallas Stars: Ken Hitchcock *Detroit Red Wings: Scotty Bowman *Edmonton Oilers: Ron Low *Los Angeles Kings: Larry Robinson *Phoenix Coyotes: Jim Schoenfeld *San Jose Sharks: Darryl Sutter *St. Louis Blues: Joel Quenneville *Toronto Maple Leafs: Mike Murphy *Vancouver Canucks: Mike Keenan Milestones Debuts *Joe Thornton, Boston Bruins *Sergei Samsonov, Boston Bruins *Derek Morris, Calgary Flames *Olli Jokinen, Los Angeles Kings *Brendan Morrison, New Jersey Devils *Sheldon Souray, New Jersey Devils *Zdeno Chara, New York Islanders *Marc Savard, New York Rangers *Chris Phillips, Ottawa Senators *Marian Hossa, Ottawa Senators *Daniel Briere, Phoenix Coyotes *Alexei Morozov, Pittsburgh Penguins *Marco Sturm, San Jose Sharks *Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks *Pavel Kubina, Tampa Bay Lightning *Danny Markov, Toronto Maple Leafs *Mattias Ohlund, Vancouver Canucks Last games *Brent Sutter, Chicago Blackhawks *Jari Kurri, Colorado Avalanche *Slava Fetisov, Detroit Red Wings *Kevin Lowe, Edmonton Oilers *Andy Moog, Montreal Canadiens *Bruce Driver, New York Rangers *Pat LaFontaine, New York Rangers *Joel Otto, Philadelphia Flyers *Michel Petit, Phoenix Coyotes *Mike Gartner, Phoenix Coyotes *Al Iafrate, San Jose Sharks *Kelly Hrudey, San Jose Sharks *Jeff Brown, Washington Capitals *Bob Errey, New York Rangers *Brian Bradley, Tampa Bay Lightning *Randy Burridge, Buffalo Sabres *Jim Johnson, Phoenix Coyotes *Todd Krygier, Washington Capitals *Norm Maciver, Phoenix Coyotes *Troy Mallette, Tampa Bay Lightning *Craig Muni, Dallas Stars *Yves Racine, Tampa Bay Lightning *David Shaw, Tampa Bay Lightning *Darrin Shannon, Phoenix Coyotes *Mick Vukota, Montreal Canadiens *Craig Wolanin, Toronto Maple Leafs *Jocelyn Lemieux, Phoenix Coyotes *John Druce, Philadelphia Flyers *Peter Douris, Dallas Stars *Mike Peluso, New York Rangers *Dennis Vial, Ottawa Senators